Notice: The appearance of U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Defense, or NASA imagery or art does not constitute an endorsement nor is Cybermodeler Online affiliated with these organizations.

Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War Book Review

Review

A preemptive war fought with integrated land, sea and air forces. An innovative campaign replete with swift, decisive applications of devastating power. And a struggle singed by intelligence mistakes and failures.

Iraq 2003? Nope: Norway 1940.

And author Henrik O. Lunde tells the whole story in Hitler's Preemptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 from Casemate.

From military, political and economic background factors, through "flawed, inadequate, and hesitant" Allied efforts to "bold, imaginative, and reckless" German execution, Lunde cuts a path to clarity. His level of detail sometimes proves painfully daunting. But he masterfully illumines the significance of smaller, tactical events against larger, strategic outcomes.

Some nitpicks intrude. Based on armament and displacement, DKM Scharnhorst and DKM Gneisenau were, I think, more accurately "battlecruisers". A glossary would have also helped. Unfamiliar with naval terms? You might not recognize "ALC". Fast or inattentive reader? You might miss the meaning of "HOK" or "SKL". Those unaware of military terminology could stumble through Lunde's thicket.

By early June 1940, devastating defeats in France – magnified by massive missteps in northern Norway – decisively diverted Allied attention. And Hitler finally cemented his Scandinavian success with five years of occupation.

From politics and economics to strategy and tactics through personalities and ploys, Hitler's Preemptive War capably chronicles the Norwegian fighting. Most importantly, Lunde provides a prism through which students of history can examine other conflicts. "The campaign in Norway," he declares, for instance, "is a textbook example of what to avoid when multi-national forces are involved in joint operations."